


Gone

by parabolae



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Angst, F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Other, Post-Grima
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-02-21
Packaged: 2018-03-14 08:26:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3403799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parabolae/pseuds/parabolae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chrom knew she was gone, but he couldn't help hoping.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gone

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the idea of Robin never coming back after her sacrifice to Grima.

A hot, searing emptiness that left him more aware than ever of what he did not - could never hope to have. And then it was gone, the aching loneliness like a blade of ice.

He did not know where she'd gone, only that she would never return, and this knowledge hurt him more than the bluntest, heaviest weapon ever could. He woke more than once with tears like hot streams of fire running down his face, drying into sticky, cruel reminders of her gentle touch.

_Where was she?_

_How could she leave him?_

"I could try to bring her back, you know."

He turned to search for the owner of the voice, although it was patently obvious to him whose it was. That dry, uncaring tone, self-concerned more than anything. Tharja.

He let out a short, harsh laugh. "You? Nobody could bring her back. Not Naga, not anyone. And least of all you." This woman whom he'd only ever agreed to trust in an effort to be more like his sister, and a Plegian, no less. She had been faithful only to her own desires. What did she hope to gain from bringing her back? And yet, though he would not tell anyone, he was willing to try anything.

There was a sudden flash of anger in her dark eyes.

"Do you want her back or not?" Her voice was tight, pained. "She was important to us all, you know. You'd do well to remember that." That, at least, was true. She had been the pin holding the entire army together - holding him together, when his sister had gone for good.

"I do," he said shortly - "I do. But you - why would you care about anyone besides yourself? You've never loved anyone."

She turned away now, the rigid lines of her back as harsh and forbidding as rock. "You wouldn't understand. Fine. Suit yourself." She made as if to leave, then froze, and turned back. "You know, I've already tried it," she whispered fiercely. Her voice was thick with emotion, something he'd never expected from her. "I tried to bring her back, several times. Each time, it ended in failure. Sleepless nights spent trying spell upon spell. And for what? Maybe you're right." Her voice seemed to echo off every rock, every pebble in the surroundings.

"Maybe I'm the least suitable person in this entire army to ask anything from the gods." Her face was twisted up with a hurt he had only ever seen when looking inside himself for an answer. "But it cannot hurt to try."

_Useless._

He stood up quickly, his head spinning.

He had to get out of here. He hadn't ever trusted this woman, and he wasn't about to start now. Maybe she really did know how he felt. But he wasn't going to gamble it all on a mere sliver of hope. He tried to walk away, taking long, heavy strides, and then he heard her call his name.

"Chrom."

He didn't turn around, but stopped. What else did she even have to say? Surely she'd spent all the emotion she'd ever feel in her life by now, he thought bitterly.

The ragged sob in her breath caught him by surprise. "You may have loved her, and I don't claim to understand that. But she was my first friend."

He spun around, to catch her, to see what expression this enigmatic woman whom none of them had ever even _begun_ to understand was making.

But then she, too, was gone.


End file.
